Ground surface slide guide of a grass cutter and grass cutter

ABSTRACT

A ground surface slide guide attached to a grass cutter is of light weight and has a large diameter and superior durability, enabling comfortable grass cutting work. The ground surface slide guide has a resin body made of synthetic resin, and a metal hub integrally coupled thereto to rotate together. The resin body is composed of a tubular body and a flange extending upward to the outside from the entire periphery of the lower end of the tubular body and covering the lower surface of the rotary blade. A blade retaining ring pressed against the lower surface of the rotary blade is formed on the outer periphery of the hub, and the blade retaining ring is exposed to the upper end surface of the tubular body. The hub is attached to a drive shaft by a fastener, and the rotary blade is clamped between a blade rest and a blade retaining ring. The lower end of the tubular body serves as a ground contact surface. The metal hub is integrally coupled to the resin body to rotate together. The overall weight is reduced by the resin body, and the lower surface of the rotary blade can be covered over a wide range, thereby improving stability with respect to the surface of the ground. In addition, since wear resistance performance is enhanced by making the thickness of the lower end of the tubular body serving as the contact surface that contacts the ground greater than the thickness of the flange, the durability of the ground surface slide guide can be improved.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a ground surface slide guide of a grasscutter for cutting grass and a grass cutter, and more particularly,relates to a ground surface slide guide, attached to the lower surfaceof a rotary blade of a grass cutter, that facilitates maintaining therotary blade at a fixed height above the ground during grass cutting,and to a grass cutter equipped with this ground surface slide guide.

BACKGROUND ART

In a typical grass cutter, a structure is employed in which a rotaryblade is positioned between a blade rest sleeve that rotates togetherwith a drive shaft around the outer periphery of a rotating drive shaftand a blade retaining plate installed on the end of the drive shaft, andthe rotary blade is attached by clamping the rotary blade between theblade rest sleeve and the blade retaining plate by tightening a nut. Agrass cutter disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.H9-172840 teaches that grass cutting work can be carried out comfortablyby attaching a ground surface slide guide to the lower surface side of arotary blade and allowing this ground surface slide guide to contact thesurface of the ground during grass cutting. In addition, since thisground surface slide guide is provided in the form of a metal-madearticle making it heavy, only a small such slide guide can be used inconsideration of workability, thereby resulting in the problem of havinginsufficient stability with respect to the surface of the ground.Moreover, since this ground surface slide guide is formed by pressing asingle metal sheet, the thickness of the location that contacts theground is the same as that of other locations, thereby resulting in theproblem of the location that contacts the ground becoming worn as aresult of use and failing comparatively at a comparatively early stageof its service life.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

With the foregoing in view, an object of the present invention is toprovide a ground surface slide guide having light weight and a largediameter for enhancing stability with respect to the surface of theground enabling grass cutting work to be carried out comfortably whilealso having a long service life.

The ground surface slide guide (60) in accordance with the presentinvention is adapted for use with a grass cutter having a rotary blade(50) as being attached to the lower surface of the rotary blade so as torotate together with the rotary blade. The grass cutter has a driveshaft (32), and a blade rest (40) mounted on the outer periphery of thedrive shaft and rotating together with the drive shaft. The groundsurface slide guide (60) includes a resin body (70) molded of asynthetic resin, and a metal hub (80) coupled so as to integrally rotatewith the resin body. The resin body (70) is composed of a tubular body(72) and a flange (74) extending upward to the outside from the entireperiphery of the lower end of the tubular body and covering the lowersurface of the rotary blade. A blade retaining ring (84) is formed onthe outer periphery of the hub (80) for pressed engagement against thelower surface of the rotary blade. The blade retaining ring (84) isexposed to the upper end surface of the tubular body, and the tubularbody is formed in its inner side with a recess (62) that opens to thelower surface of the ground surface slide guide. The hub (80) is formedin its center with a mounding hole (82) through which the drive shaftpasses such that the rotary blade is fixed to the drive shaft as beingclamped between the blade rest (40) and the blade retaining ring (84) bymeans of a fastener (36) located in the recess to come into a threadedengagement with the end of the drive shaft. The tubular body (72) has athickness which is greater towards its lower end than at said flange,and forms a ground contact surface at its lower end. In this manner,since metal hub (80) for fixing the rotary blade to the drive shaft iscoupled so as to integrally rotate together with the resin body (70)molded of the synthetic resin, the overall weight of the ground surfaceslide guide is reduced by use of the resin body (70), the lower surfaceof the rotary blade can be covered over a wide range and stability withrespect to the ground surface can be improved, thereby enabling grasscutting work to be carried out comfortably. In addition, since thethickness of the lower end of the tubular body where the ground surfaceslide guide contacts the ground is greater than the thickness of otherportions, wear resistance performance is enhanced, thereby making itpossible to improve the durability of the ground surface slide guide.

The ground contact surface of the lower end of the tubular body (72)preferably has a convex curved surface. As a result, contact resistancewith the ground can be reduced thereby enabling grass cutting work to becarried out smoothly.

In a preferred embodiment, the metal hub (80) is inserted into the resinbody (70) to enhance the reliability of coupling between the resin bodyand hub. The blade retaining ring (84) is formed with a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced through-holes (85) which are filled with theresin that forms the resin body to give resin sites (75) exposed to theupper surface of the retaining ring. The blade retaining ring (84) isformed on its upper surface with a circumferentially extending annularprotruding rib (86) that is pressed against the rotary blade. Theannular protruding rib (86) is interrupted by the resin sites (75). Theresin sites lie in the same plane as the upper surface of the bladeretaining ring (84) and are lower than the protruding rib. With thepresence of the annular protruding rib on the upper surface of theretaining ring, the rotary blade can be stably attached to the driveshaft without shifting from the center of the shaft. In addition,although being interrupted by the resin sites (75), the annularprotruding rib extends almost completely in a circumferential directionto constitute a substantially circular rib protruding on the bladeretaining ring (84) for constant engagement around its entirecircumference with the rotary blade even when the metal-made hub (80)suffers from a warp or distortion developed around the through-holes orsteps when being press-formed, thereby enabling a secure attachment tothe blade.

Moreover, in a preferable embodiment, a wear-indicative indentation (77)for indicating wear is formed in a portion of the upper surface of theflange near the lower end of the tubular body, and the thickness of theflange at the portion where the indentation is formed is less than thatof other portions. As the lower surface of the flange becomes worn at aportion where the indentation is provided due to friction with theground during a long-term use, the indentation penetrates the lowersurface of the flange and is visualized as a hole, thereby making itpossible to judge the time when the ground surface slide guide is to bereplaced. In addition, since the indentation is formed in the uppersurface of the flange, smooth contact between the flange and ground canbe maintained without causing any adverse effect in contacting with theground until the time for replacement is reached.

Still further, a cutting string (90) may be removably attached to theresin body (70). As a result, grass cutting can be carried out bycombining the use of a rotary blade and the cutting string. The use ofthe cutting string of a length such that the end thereof protrudes tothe outside beyond the rotary blade enables grass located near obstaclessuch as walls, stones or trees to be cut safely with the flexiblecutting string without the rotary blade making contact with suchobstacles.

The hub may be formed at a portion side of and lower than the bladeretaining ring with an auxiliary retaining ring (88) exposed to theinside of the tubular body (72). The auxiliary retaining ring is shapedto be engageable with a boss (42) formed at the center of the blade rest(40) and extending into a center shaft hole of the rotary blade (50). Inthe case of attaching the ground surface slide guide provided with thecutting string without attaching the rotary blade, by setting thelocation of the auxiliary retaining ring (88) so that the auxiliaryretaining ring makes contact with the boss of the blade rest in thestate in which the upper surface of the blade retaining ring (84) is ata distance from the blade rest (40), a clamping force acts on the bladerest (40) serving as the contact surface with the rotary blade and theblade retaining ring (84), thereby making it possible to prevent theoccurrence of deformation in these portions while still enabling theground surface slide guide (60) to be reliably fixed to the drive shaft.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a grass cutter to which the groundsurface slide guide of the present invention is attached;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the state in which a groundsurface slide guide is attached to a drive shaft of the grass cutter inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the above ground surface slide guide asviewed on an angle from below;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the above ground surface slide guide asviewed on an angle from above;

FIG. 5 is an overhead view showing a hub inserted into the above groundsurface slide guide;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the above hub;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing the case of installing only acutting string on the same grass cutter;

FIG. 8 is a partial view showing a retaining hole for attaching acutting string to the same ground surface slide guide;

FIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C are schematic drawings respectively showing the caseof combining the use of a rotary blade and cutting string, the case ofusing a rotary blade only, and the case of using a cutting string onlyin the same grass cutter; and

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a modification of the sameground surface slide guide.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The following provides an explanation of a ground surface slide guide inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention based on theattached drawings. FIG. 1 shows a grass cutter to which a ground surfaceslide guide is attached. The grass cutter is typically provided with apipe 10 having an engine 20 installed on one end thereof, and a grasscutting head 30 attached to the other end of pipe 10, and a rotary shaft12 rotated by engine 20 extends to grass cutting head 30 through pipe10. Grass cutting head 30 is provided with a drive shaft 32 that rotatescoupled to rotary shaft 12, and a rotary blade 50 referred to as a tipsaw is removably attached to this drive shaft 32. A shoulder strap 14for hanging the grass cutter from the shoulder of a user, a handle 16held in the hands of a user, and a safety cover 18 covering a portion ofrotary blade 50 are attached to pipe 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, grass cutting head 30 is provided with a blade restsleeve in the form of blade rest 40, which rotates together with driveshaft 32 by being spline-coupled to drive shaft 32, and a boss 42inserted into a circular shaft hole in the center of rotary blade 50 isformed in the center of this blade rest 40. Male threads 34 are providedon the end of drive shaft 32, and ground surface slide guide 60 isattached to drive shaft 32 by a nut in the form of a fastener 36. Rotaryblade 50 is fixed to drive shaft 32 by being clamped between the guide60 and blade rest surface 44 around the periphery of boss 42 of theblade rest sleeve.

Ground surface slide guide 60, which rotates together with rotary blade50 and makes sliding contact with a ground surface E, is able tomaintain rotary blade 50 at a fixed height above ground surface E, andis used to comfortably carry out grass cutting work in which the grasscutter is swung to the left and right. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, theground surface slide guide 60 is composed of a resin body 70 in the formof a resin molded article and a metal hub 80 inserted into this resinbody 70. Resin body 70 is molded with a resin such as high-strengthNylon to exhibit superior wear resistance, and has a tubular body 72 anda flange 74 extending upward at an angle from the entire periphery ofthe lower end of this tubular body.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, hub 80 has a mounting hole 82 in the centerthereof into which drive shaft 32 is inserted. Hub 80 is formed into aring-shaped body having a blade retaining ring 84 on the outer peripherythereof, and is inserted into a portion extending from the upper end oftubular body 72 to an inner ledge 73 on the inner periphery of the upperend of the tubular body such that blade retaining ring 84 is exposed tothe upper end surface of tubular body 72. The bottom of inner ledge 73is open, and a recess 62 is formed here in which the nut in the form offastener 36 is accommodated therein. Blade retaining ring 84 clampsrotary blade 50 between blade retaining ring 84 and blade rest surface44 of the blade rest sleeve. An annular protruding rib 86 is formed onthe supper surface of the blade retaining ring 84 so as to be pressedagainst the lower surface of rotary blade 50. The blade retaining ring84 is formed with through-holes 85 which are circumferentially arrangedat equal intervals. The through-holes 85 are filled with the resin ofthe resin body 70 to leave resin sites 75 exposed to the upper surfaceof blade retaining ring 84. The resin sites 75 lie in the same plane asthe upper surface of blade retaining ring 84 and are lower thanprotruding rib 86. Protruding rib 86 is interrupted in thecircumferential direction on the upper surface of blade retaining ring84 by the lower resin sites 75. Although protruding rib 86 isinterrupted, rotary blade 50 can be stably retained as a result ofrotary blade 50 being uniformly pressed against the periphery of driveshaft 32 by protruding rib 86 extending in the circumferentialdirection.

The upper edges of through-holes 85 formed in blade retaining ring 84and the upper outer edges of the blade retaining ring are chamfered toform a taper 87 around which the resin extends to enhance a couplingstrength between resin body 70 and hub 80 for preventing disengagementof the hub.

Hub 80 is press-formed to have punched out through-holes 85. Even whenwarp or distortion occurs in retaining ring 84 accompanying with theprocessing, the presence of the circumferentially extending annularprotruding rib 86 at a high level on the surface of blade retaining ring84 makes it possible to stably press the rib against the rotary blade50.

The outer surface of flange 74 is finished to have a smooth curvedsurface facing upward at an angle from the lower surface of tubular body72, and covers the lower surface of rotary blade 50 at the outerperiphery of tubular body 72. The outer peripheral edge of flange 74 ispositioned slightly lower than blade retaining ring 84, and as shown inFIG. 2, forms a gap between itself and rotary blade 50. The lower end oftubular body 72 serves as a contact surface that contacts the ground,and the thickness thereof at this portion is greater than that of flange74, thereby enhancing durability of the ground surface slide guide andtherefore prolonging a life-time until flange 74 is separated out due towear loss caused by contact with the ground. An indentation 77 thatopens to the upper surface of flange 74 is formed in the portion offlange 74 located immediately to the outside of tubular body 72. Theindentations 77 are formed at a plurality of locations along thecircumferential direction of tubular body 72 for indication of time whenthe ground surface slide guide has to be replaced due to wear. When thelower surface of flange 74 becomes worn at a portion close to the lowerend of the tubular body 72, at least one of indentations 77 penetratesinto the lower surface of flange 74, thereby informing a user that it istime to replace the ground surface slide guide. The indentation 77 maybe of an arbitrary shape such as a round hole, square hole, conical holeor pyramidal hole.

In addition, flange 74 is formed in its outer periphery with retainingholes 78 for removably attaching cutting string 90. Cutting string 90 isa cord made of a synthetic resin, for example, Nylon, and is used to cutvarious weeds when being driven to rotate together with ground surfaceslide guide 60. Cutting string 90 is of a length such that the path ofrotation followed by the end thereof extends farther than the end ofrotary blade 50, and is held to ground surface slide guide 60 bypositioning a fastener 92 at the base of the string on the inside offlange 74. Other examples of materials that can be used for cuttingstring 90 include other synthetic fibers, plant fibers, metal wires andcompound materials comprised of combinations thereof. As a result ofbeing provided with such cutting string 90, cutting string 90 can beused in combination with rotary blade 50 for safely cutting grasslocated near an obstacle D such as a wall, stone or tree without causingthe rotary blade to contact with that obstacle D. As shown in FIG. 8, anL-shaped hole can be used as retaining hole 78 to enable easy attachmentand removal of cutting string 90. In this case, a large diameter portion79 is formed in one end of retaining hole 78 to enable fastener 92 to bepassed there through, and by making the remaining width smaller than thediameter of fastener 92, attachment and removal of cutting string 90 canbe carried out easily from outside flange 74.

Retaining ring 84 is formed at its inside with an auxiliary retainingring 88 which is offset downward in the axial direction from the uppersurface of blade retaining ring 84. The outer diameter of auxiliaryretaining ring 88 is equal to the outer diameter of boss 42 of bladerest 40. The auxiliary retaining ring 88 becomes effective when usingcutting string 90 only. Namely, in the case of attaching only groundsurface slide guide 60 to drive shaft 32 of the grass cutter and withoutrotary blade 50, as shown in FIG. 7, auxiliary retaining ring 88 comesinto contact with boss 44 of blade rest 40 and leaving a gap G betweenthe two clamping surfaces, i.e., precision-finished blade rest surface44 and the upper surface of blade retaining ring 84, thereby avoidingthese surfaces from being subjected to damage.

As has been previously described, since cutting string 90 is removablyattached to ground surface slide guide 60 of the present invention,grass cutting work can be carried out by combining the use of rotaryblade 50 and cutting string 90, by using rotary blade 50 only or byusing cutting string 90 only as shown in FIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C.

FIG. 10 shows a modification of the above-mentioned embodiment in whichretaining holes 78 for attaching cutting string 90 are formed in tubularbody 72 as well as in flange 74 such that cutting string 90 is allowedto be attached and removed on the side of the recess 62 in the bottom ofground surface slide guide 60. Consequently, attachment and removal ofcutting string 90 can be carried out with ground surface slide guide 60still fixed to drive shaft 32.

In the embodiment of a grass cutter as described above, ground surfaceslide guide 60 is attached to the grass cutter by screwing on a fastener36 in the form of a nut to male threads 34 in drive shaft 32. In anotherembodiment of a grass cutter, instead of forming the male threads on thelower end of the drive shaft 32, a threaded hole is formed in the lowerend of the drive shaft 32 and the ground surface slide guide 60 isattached to the grass cutter by screwing in the fastener 36 in the formof a headed bolt into this threaded hole.

In the embodiment of the ground surface slide guide as described above,metal hub 80 is formed inserted into resin body 70. In anotherembodiment of a ground surface slide guide, resin body 70 and hub 80 areformed separately, and resin body 70 and hub 80 may be coupled byinserting resin sites 75, formed in advance to project from the resinbody, into the previously described through-holes 85 of hub 80. Themanner in which the resin body and hub are coupled may be altered withina range that does not deviate from the spirit of the present invention.

1. A ground surface slide guide (60) for a grass cutter, said groundsurface slide guide being adapted in use to be attached to a lower sideof a rotary blade (50) of said grass cutter to rotate togethertherewith, said grass cutter having a rotary drive shaft (32), and ablade rest (40) that rotates together with said drive shaft, said groundsurface slide guide comprising a resin body (70) molded of a syntheticresin, and a metal hub (80) integrally coupled to said resin body torotate together therewith as an integral unit, said resin body (70)comprising a tubular body (72) and a flange (74) extending upwardly andoutwardly from the entire periphery of the lower end of said tubularbody to cover the lower surface of said rotary blade, said hub beingformed at its outer periphery with a blade retaining ring (84)configured to be pressed against the lower surface of the rotary bladeand be exposed to the upper surface of said tubular body, said tubularbody being formed in its inside with a recess (62) that opens to thelower surface of said ground surface slide guide (60), said hub (80)being formed in its center with a mounting hole (82) through which saiddrive shaft extends such that said rotary blade is fixed to said driveshaft as being clamped between said blade rest (40) and said bladeretaining ring (84) by means of a fastener (36) located in said recessin threaded engagement with the end of said drive shaft, wherein thetubular body (72) has a thickness which is greater towards its lower endthan at said flange, and forms a ground contact surface at its lowerend.
 2. The ground surface slide guide according to claim 1, wherein theground contact surface is in the form of a convex curved surface.
 3. Theground surface slide guide according to claim 1, wherein said bladeretaining ring (84) is formed with a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced through-holes (85), said metal hub (80) is inserted into theresin body (70) with said through-holes being filled with a resinforming said resin body so as to leave resin sites (75) exposed to theupper surface of the blade retaining ring, said blade retaining ring(84) is formed on its upper surface with a circumferentially extendingannular protruding rib (86) that is pressed against said rotary blade,and said annular protruding rib (86) is interrupted by said resin sites(75).
 4. The ground surface slide guide according to claim 1, whereinsaid flange is formed in its upper surface with a wear-indicativeindentation (77), said flange having a thickness which is less at saidindentation than the other portion of said flange.
 5. The ground surfaceslide guide according to claim 1, wherein a cutting string (90) isremovably attached to the resin body (70).
 6. The ground surface slideguide according to claim 1, wherein said hub (80) is formed at a portioninside of and lower than sad blade retaining ring (84) with an auxiliaryretaining ring (88) exposed to the inside of the tubular body, saidauxiliary retaining ring (88) is shaped to be engageable with a boss(42) formed at the center of said blade rest (40) and extending into acenter shaft hole of said rotary blade (50).
 7. A grass cutter providedwith the ground surface slide guide according to claim
 1. 8. A grasscutter provided with the ground surface slide guide according to claim2.
 9. A grass cutter provided with the ground surface slide guideaccording to claim
 3. 10. A grass cutter provided with the groundsurface slide guide according to claim
 4. 11. A grass cutter providedwith the ground surface slide guide according to claim
 5. 12. A grasscutter provided with the ground surface slide guide according to claim6.